December 3, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 27,1423

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PARIS Dec 2: Russia won its first ever Davis Cup title Sunday by beating defending champion France 3-2 in the final.

Mikhail Youzhny took the decisive point in the best-of-five tie when he came from behind to defeat Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the last singles match.

Youzhny’s win capped a stunning turnaround for Russia, which trailed 1-2 at the start of Sunday’s play.

Marat Safin beat Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (11) in Sunday’s first reverse singles on the red clay of Bercy’s indoor stadium.

Youzhny closed out the final match when Mathieu hit a long service return, sealing Russia’s first victory in three appearances in the Davis Cup final.

“When I was down two sets to love, I told myself: ‘I have to play my game, I have to do my best,’” Youzhny said. “I won this match, because I’m on top form. And even though I’m young, I already have experience of big matches.”

After the last point, the Russian team rushed onto the court, lifted Youzhny above their heads and began throwing him repeatedly into the air.

It was only the sixth time a team has come back from 1-2 down in the Davis Cup final and taken the title. The last team to do so was Australia, which rallied to beat the United States 3-2 in 1964.

Russia is only the 11th nation to have won the Cup.

French team captain Guy Forget appeared to hold back tears as he took the stand to thank fans and players during the award ceremony.

Youzhny, ranked 32nd in the world, was chosen to play the final rubber instead of the more experienced Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

But although the 20-year-olds had their fair share of errors, their match was more nail-biting than any other in the three-day final.

Mathieu, who lost to Safin in four sets on Friday, took the early lead, encouraged by the French fans making up most of the 15,000-strong audience.

After exchanging breaks with Youzhny and tying at 3 all, the Frenchman won seven games in a row, capturing the first set and opening a 4-0 lead in the second, which he concluded with a service winner.

From then on, however, the lithe Russian turned his game around as Mathieu showed signs of tiring and made a string of errors, including a long forehand that cost him the third set.

Youzhny swung his arm in a circle after each winning shot while Mathieu thumped his heart with his right fist as he broke the Russian for a 4-2 lead in the fourth set. He lost serve immediately and Youzhny took the decisive break in the 11th game by wrongfooting his opponent and finishing him off with a forehand.

The Russian, who was barely sweating, moved ahead 3-1 in the final set after breaking Mathieu. For the first time in three days, Tarpishchev smiled as he sat court-side on the players’ bench.

His expressive French counterpart, Guy Forget, was stony-faced as Mathieu broke back to tie at 3 games all, then lost his service game yet again to trail 3-4.

That was the last break of the match, which Youzhny closed by holding serve at love. After the final point, he bowed to each of the four corners of the stadium, clutching his heart with both hands.

Youzhny, who captured his first career title at Stuttgart, earlier this year, was playing only his sixth Davis Cup match. He had only won one of his previous five matches in the event.

In Paris, Safin won Friday’s opening singles match on Friday by beating Mathieu. Grosjean tied for France by defeating Kafelnikov in straight sets. In Saturday’s doubles, Safin and Kafelnikov lost in five sets to Nicolas Escude and Fabrice Santoro.

It was the second time in four years France has lost in the final on home soil. It was beaten 3-2 by Australia in Nice in 1999. It took revenge by beating the Australian team 3-2 in last year’s final in Melbourne.—AFP